Senate Votes to Consider Repealing California’s Rule Phasing Out Gas Vehicles

The rule imposes ‘costly and unrealistic mandates’ on small businesses, warned a business group.

Vehicles make their way down the 110 freeway toward downtown Los Angeles during the morning commute on April 22, 2021. Mario Tama/Getty Images

The U.S. Senate has decided to discuss a resolution that would roll back California’s stringent vehicle emission standards mandating the phasing out of gas-powered cars.

On May 21, the Senate voted 51–46 to consider H.J.Res.88, a resolution seeking to nullify waivers granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to California that allow the state to implement its Advanced Clean Cars (ACC) II regulations.

The Clean Air Act bans states from establishing their own tailpipe emission standards for trucks and cars. However, California can get an exemption to the ban if it gets a waiver from the EPA. Following the waiver approval, California can implement its own emissions rules.

ACC II requires 35 percent of new car sales in California to be zero-emission by 2026, with the requirement scaling up to 100 percent by 2035, the office of Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), who co-led the resolution in the House, said in a May 1 statement.

In December, the EPA granted a waiver to California allowing the state to implement ACC II.

A significant issue with the waiver was that once California institutes ACC II, these standards are “adopted by other states under Section 177 of the Clean Air Act,” the statement said.

“Currently, about a dozen states follow California’s emissions policies, effectively turning the state’s regulations into a nationwide mandate.”

H.J.Res.88 was passed by the House of Representatives on May 1 with a vote of 246–164.

With the Senate now set to consider the resolution, H.J.Res.88 stands a chance to pass the chamber. If President Donald Trump signs it into law, ACC II mandates requiring a transition to zero-emission vehicles would no longer be valid in California.

In a May 2 statement, the National Federation of Independent Business applauded the passage of H.J.Res.88 in the House.

Earlier on April 29, the organization had written a letter to the House in support of the resolution, warning that EV mandates imposed under ACC II will impact “millions of small businesses across the country.”

ACC II would allow “a single state’s policymakers to dictate vehicle regulations nationwide,” the organization said in the letter. “This is an overreach that imposes costly and unrealistic mandates on small business owners, most of whom do not have the financial means to comply with these regulations.”

‘Fewer Choices, Higher Prices’

According to the California Air Resources Board, ACC II regulations would “substantially reduce air pollutants that threaten public health and cause climate change.”

“The regulations also take additional steps to clean up internal combustion engines and will provide public health benefits of at least $12 billion over the life of the regulations by reducing premature deaths, hospitalizations, and lost workdays associated with exposure to air pollution,” it said.

The board said its staff met with national, state, and local advocacy organizations before finalizing the rules.

It also developed incentives and rebates for new and used zero-emission cars to make it easier for people to transition to these vehicles. The agency estimates buyers of zero-emission cars stand to gain up to $7,500 in maintenance and operational savings within the first 10 years of ownership.

During his May 20 remarks on the Senate Floor, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) warned that waivers granted to California endanger America’s economy, consumers, and the power grid.

The electric vehicle mandate in California will lead to automakers across the United States shutting down a “substantial part” of their traditional vehicle production facilities, he said.

This poses “serious consequences” such as diminished economic output, declining tax revenues, and job losses, he added.

“Consumers around the country would face fewer choices, higher prices, and reduced automobile availability,” Thune said. “And our already shaky electric grid would quickly face huge new burdens from the surge in new electric vehicles.”

H.J.Res.88 was introduced under the Congressional Review Act, a tool Congress can use to overturn rules issued by federal agencies.

In a May 22 post on social media platform X, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) criticized Republicans for using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to move forward the resolution, accusing them of hijacking the Act to “repeal clean air rules to appease the fossil fuel industry.”

“And that’s just the start,” he said.

“They’re hijacking the CRA process in a way that’s never been done before.

“Trump gets to choose an agency action or policy he doesn’t like, stamp it with the label ‘CRA,’ send it over to the Congress, and Republicans will bow in obeisance and repeal it with a simple majority vote.”

Thune dismissed such claims in his May 20 remarks, accusing Democrats of trying to derail the repeal of ACC II by “throwing a tantrum over a supposed procedural problem.”

“The California waivers are not rules, Democrats claim, and thus the Congressional Review Act cannot be used to repeal them,” he said.

“Let’s be very clear. The EPA has submitted the waivers to Congress as rules—which is all that Congress has ever needed to decide to consider something under the Congressional Review Act.”